'Porcelain Dolls' a play about women, but that doesn't mean it's for women

Erin Weir refuses to use the term ‘girl power’ to describe Full Circle Theatre’s new play Porcelain Dolls, though those two words are always on the tip of her tongue.

"Porcelain Dolls is a story about a group of women, but that doesn’t make it a play solely for women.

"My younger brother, Kevin Weir, is a writer and we were careful to run our ideas past him to make certain they were inclusive. We want men to have as much fun at the show as women," says Weir.

Porcelain Dolls is set in the washroom of a nightclub where the girls are part of a bachelorette party.

The bride (Megan Baldrey) is beginning to develop a serious case of butterflies but nothing like the panic attack her former best friend (Weir) is having since she stumbled into the club and discovered she was not invited to the celebration.

The seven actors who star in Porcelain Dolls began working on the script a year ago.

"We knew from our initial meetings we wanted the play to take place in the washroom but somewhere along the way we decided to add the idea of a bachelorette party.

"The washroom in a bar or club is a safe place for women especially if you want to escape from someone," explains Weir.

"A wedding and all the events leading up to it have so many emotions tied into them.

"Add alcohol to the mix and issues not even remotely related to the wedding become so very important and that’s what happens in Porcelain Dolls."

She confesses she, and most of her costars, have been to such bachelorette parties at similar bars in Calgary.

Weir knows her play will inevitably draw comparisons to the hit movie Bridesmaids.

"That’s not a bad thing," she insists explaining "the thing that made Bridesmaids so popular was that it wasn’t women’s humour. It was just humour about a group of women and that’s what we went for.

"Hopefully we’ve made these characters universal enough that everyone will either see themselves or someone they know in one or more of them and that should include the men who come to the show."

Weir says what her collective aimed for was "creating a play with a bit humour and a lot of heart."

To achieve this, the actor/writers made sure no one became attached to any one character.

"Each time we had another major workshop, we juggled the casting so new ideas emerged for each character."

She says, for the actors, Porcelain Dolls is a treat.

"So often actors are simply tools for the playwright but because this is a collective, we were able to find our own voices and that’s what has made the whole experience so cool.

"We hope the audiences will have as much fun watching the show as we had creating it."